Graham Newland

His blood salted at an early age, Graham Newland turned his engineering brain to the sport of yachting after World War II.

Sydney yachtsman Graham Newland started his sailing career as a member of the crew Jasnar with skipper Gordon Ingate in 1948. He was so thrilled with his first taste of ocean sailing that the following year he bought the 28ft sloop Firefly and races her with the Sydney Amateur Sailing club and later Middle Harbour Yacht Club.

However he soon realised that Firefly was not suitable for ocean racing. So after sifting through 20 designs of 24ft LSL boats, Graham decided to build an Arthur Robb design Lion Class.

He commissioned Ron Swanson to lay the keel of Siandra in the backyard of his engineering works. For the next 2 years, he spent his spare time building the boat which was finally launched in 1956.

He sailed as a watch captain on Gordon Ingate's Caprice of Huon in Australia's first challenge for the Admiral's Cup in Cowes in 1965, winning three of four races. The Australian team placed second overall.

In 1967, he had the same role with the boat, chartered by Gordon Reynolds. The Australian team of Caprice of Huon, Balandra and Mercedes III scored a major upset by winning the Admiral's Cup.

For the 1971 One Ton Cup in Auckland, the then prestigious level rating rule, Newland persuaded Sydney yachtsman Syd Fischer to charter the Sparkman & Stephensdesigned Stormy Petrel. Newland, an engineer and by then a renowned 'yacht doctor', suggested that her ballast and rig be increased, with new sails designed by Hugh Treharne for New Zealand conditions. The result was a great victory for Australia.

In 1977, Newland joined his 1965 Admiral's Cup challenge skipper Gordon Ingate in campaigning Gretel II for her second tilt at the America's Cup at Newport, Rhode Island. His wife Lurl also played a significant role, as the 'House Mother' for the RSYS crew at Newport.

Newland was tactician and starting helmsman in the "Dad's Army" campaign that went down fighting for the right to challenge the Americans.

In a long yachting career, Graham Newland sailed in 15 Sydney Hobarts with two wins with Siandra, two One Ton Cups with a win in Syd Fischer's Stormy Petrel, four Fastnet Races including a win and a third in Fischer's original Ragamuffin, a Bermuda Race on the English yacht Firebrand and on Norman Rydge's Lorita Maria, skippered by Peter Green, in a TransAtlantic Race from Rhode Island to Copenhagen.

Retiring from yachting, Graham became a fulltime farmer on a 2,000 acre property named Tarrawong at Goolma near Gulgong. He bought a glider which he flew out of Narromine, later getting his engine aircraft pilot's licence. This led to buying Cape York Aerial Services with a contract for the mail run from Cairns to cattle properties on Cape York.

Despite his declining health in recent years, one of Graham's remaining pleasures was the monthly ROMEO (Retired Old Men Eating Out) lunch organized by John Brooks at the Sydney Flying Squadron.

Pictures and Articles

More pictures and articles can be viewed on the Firefly and Siandra pages. Pictures collected by Graham Newland and donated by Jan Newland (daughter)